Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François Boucq

Little Tulip (2014) is the third collaboration between US writer Jerome Charyn and French comic strip artist François Boucq. This graphic novel moves back and forth between the USSR of the 1940s and 1950s and New York City in the 1970s to tell the story of Paul, a US-born tattoo artist who spent his...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sophie Vallas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2023-11-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/21353
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832580766343626752
author Sophie Vallas
author_facet Sophie Vallas
author_sort Sophie Vallas
collection DOAJ
description Little Tulip (2014) is the third collaboration between US writer Jerome Charyn and French comic strip artist François Boucq. This graphic novel moves back and forth between the USSR of the 1940s and 1950s and New York City in the 1970s to tell the story of Paul, a US-born tattoo artist who spent his childhood in a Gulag colony in Siberia where, as Pavel, he learnt his craft. Drawing and tatooing are at the heart of the narrative, both Charyn and Boucq attempting to probe their powers: when Pavel/Paul becomes an artist in the Gulag, he learns to adorn captive bodies with insignia that reflect the strict hierarchy of the camp or with codified symbols that tell the stories of the criminals’ lives, but he also learns to penetrate those savage men’s personalities and thus to save his own skin by beautifully inking the skins of others. Beyond exposing the very concrete powers that enable the young tatoo artist to survive in Siberia by both respecting and transgressing the rules of the camp, and then to roam the violent streets of New York city, Little Tulip explores the laws of art that each drawing contains: rules that allow the artist to walk the thin line between art and magic, where the indelible ink of tatoo can paradoxically give birth to invisibility.
format Article
id doaj-art-85918be063e34ae0b720e21142bbd316
institution Kabale University
issn 1765-2766
language English
publishDate 2023-11-01
publisher Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
record_format Article
series Transatlantica
spelling doaj-art-85918be063e34ae0b720e21142bbd3162025-01-30T10:43:30ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662023-11-01210.4000/transatlantica.21353Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François BoucqSophie VallasLittle Tulip (2014) is the third collaboration between US writer Jerome Charyn and French comic strip artist François Boucq. This graphic novel moves back and forth between the USSR of the 1940s and 1950s and New York City in the 1970s to tell the story of Paul, a US-born tattoo artist who spent his childhood in a Gulag colony in Siberia where, as Pavel, he learnt his craft. Drawing and tatooing are at the heart of the narrative, both Charyn and Boucq attempting to probe their powers: when Pavel/Paul becomes an artist in the Gulag, he learns to adorn captive bodies with insignia that reflect the strict hierarchy of the camp or with codified symbols that tell the stories of the criminals’ lives, but he also learns to penetrate those savage men’s personalities and thus to save his own skin by beautifully inking the skins of others. Beyond exposing the very concrete powers that enable the young tatoo artist to survive in Siberia by both respecting and transgressing the rules of the camp, and then to roam the violent streets of New York city, Little Tulip explores the laws of art that each drawing contains: rules that allow the artist to walk the thin line between art and magic, where the indelible ink of tatoo can paradoxically give birth to invisibility.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/21353lawartCharyn (Jerome)Boucq (François)Little Tulipcomic art
spellingShingle Sophie Vallas
Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François Boucq
Transatlantica
law
art
Charyn (Jerome)
Boucq (François)
Little Tulip
comic art
title Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François Boucq
title_full Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François Boucq
title_fullStr Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François Boucq
title_full_unstemmed Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François Boucq
title_short Tat[o]ueur : pouvoirs du tatouage dans Little Tulip, de Jerome Charyn et François Boucq
title_sort tat o ueur pouvoirs du tatouage dans little tulip de jerome charyn et francois boucq
topic law
art
Charyn (Jerome)
Boucq (François)
Little Tulip
comic art
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/21353
work_keys_str_mv AT sophievallas tatoueurpouvoirsdutatouagedanslittletulipdejeromecharynetfrancoisboucq